LONDON, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a video interview with financial broadcaster http://www.cantos.com, Imperial Tobacco Chief Executive Alison Cooper discusses the

By TIM SHARP IMPERIAL Tobacco yesterday asked shareholders to cough up GBP4.9bn to enable it to retain investment grade credit status in the wake of its acquisition of Franco-Spanish company Altadis in January.

By David Jones British American Tobacco, the No. 2 cigarette company after Altria, is setting the agenda for growth in the cigarette world with modest acquisitions and deep cost cuts as the era of big tobacco deals comes to a close.

THEY have resisted long enough, but today two of the last bastions for smokers in Europe will succumb to a ban. Anyone needing a nicotine fix in a German pub or French cafe from today will have to step outside as lighting up in an enclosed place becomes illegal.

By Doreen Carvajal Only the select few can enter the online preserve of Altadis, the European tobacco giant.